Why Your Dog Pees In Crate And How To Stop It?

Written by: Kristina Lalovic
Sometimes dogs pee in their crates which is frustrating because of the pee smell. To help you deal with this, we have listed in this article the proper solutions on how to stop this bad habit.

Dog peeing in a crate is something that every dog owner has to deal with at some point. This tends to be very frustrating, but luckily there are ways to deal with this stinky situation.

If your dog is well-trained and he starts peeing in his crate, you may ask – why is my dog peeing in her crate all of a sudden, which is a common indicator that your dog is trying something to tell you.

If you have just welcomed a new pup from a pet store or puppy mill to your home then the answer might be simple. Your dog already learned to use the crate as a bathroom and therefore is only continuing to do what seems natural.

Paying attention to crate training as well as potty training on time might help to prevent your puppy from peeing in the crate.

Before you focus on how to stop dog peeing in crate determine the why dog pees in crate first.

Your dog just might be upset that you changed his routine or Fido might be scared of thunderstorms or fireworks.

If you have eliminated these reasons, and the dog keeps peeing in the crate you will find the advice listed below helpful.

How To Stop Dog From Peeing In Crate?

If you haven’t crate trained or potty trained your dog, you should start with that.

If your dog has already been using a crate and now you are experiencing these crate-related issues, you
might be wondering lately, ‘How do I get my dog to stop peeing in the crate?’.

First, you should inform yourself about the potential problems that might be causing your dog to have accidents in his crate.

Have you dedicated enough time to crate training your puppy? Is your dog spending too much time in the crate? Is the crate size good enough for your puppy?

Does your pet have a urinary tract infection or is maybe affected by anxiety?

Go through our checklist of possible reasons your dog is peeing in the crate.

1. Crate Train Your Puppy Properly

Beagle dog in crate

A bladder consistency routine is crucial for every dog. You should spend enough time with your pup and try to reveal his bladder pattern to know when to react.

Checking up on your dog occasionally to see if he is giving any signs that he needs to pee or poop is a perfect place to start.

Try waking up 2-3 times during the night to check him up, bring her to her pee spot, wait until the dog pees and then bring her back to the crate.

Pro tip: It might help to know how often do dogs need to pee

The more potty breaks you create the better. Make sure to give your puppy a treat whenever it does the right thing.

Once you get a puppy know that you may see your puppy pee in crates frequently if you miss implementing potty training.

Also, depending on the breed, puppies can be stubborn, and some will refuse to be left alone in a crate throughout the night.

As result, you will learn how it looks when a puppy is peeing in a crate on purpose.

2. Make Sure That The Crate Is Clean And Pee-odorless

As you probably noticed, puppies like to pee in the same place where they did before. Whenever you take your dog out you surely dealt with your dog sniffing every bush, tree, bench…

Dog pee leaves an enzyme that marks a certain spot as “the potty place”.

This enzyme calls puppies to pee, so make sure to clean the crate regularly, and get rid of that “pee-calling” enzyme.

Removing any blankets or towels your dog used for potty might also help you. If the crate is thoroughly cleaned, the possibility of your dog peeing again will decrease.

You may clean it perfectly and there still might be some odor, which may inspire dogs to lie on it.

What to do if a dog pees in a crate and lays in it? Dogs who are adopted or came from a puppy mill, or any other area where they were closed ins mall space, might pee and lay in it as a learned behavior as they didn’t have enough space to move.

If this is the case with your dog talk with a canine behavioralist or a professional dog trainer to see how to address these issues.

If a dog lies in pee for too long or too often, it may lead to skin infections.

3. Is The Crate Size Good For Your Puppy?

You should examine if you have the right size crate for your puppy.

Buying a crate too large might lead to potty problems, as there’s too much space for your dog and consequently it could just decide on using the space they don’t need for potty!

So don’t worry if a smaller crate looks too tight for your beloved pet, your dog doesn’t need as much space for his crate as you think.

If he can stand and turn around in it, then that’s a good size and dogs prefer smaller, cozier spaces for relaxing.

4. Make Sure Your Dog’s Feeding Schedule Is Consistent

Being consistent in feeding your pup every day is crucial for developing a consistent and neat potty schedule for your dog. Having the same rhythm is of high value for our pets and is the core of their health.

You probably already know this, but it might happen that due to your full-time job schedule in the last few weeks you slightly changed your dog’s feeding schedule.

Maybe what is causing your dog to pee in a crate is exactly that slight change in his food routine.

If the problem persists, try keeping track of every time your puppy eats, drinks water, poops, and pees.

Soon you’ll notice predictable patterns that you can use to discipline your dog into peeing in the right potty place.

Know that dogs peeing in crates out of spite is a normal occurrence if they are not satisfied with their routine.

5. Contact Your Veterinarian To Check If Your Puppy Has Urinary Tract Infection

This potential reason is especially relevant if your dog previously didn’t have accidents of this kind but started peeing in his crate out of the blue. Rule out medical issues that might be bothering your pet.

Peeing in a crate might be a sign of a URI, and older dogs are especially at risk for the alike medical issues.

Some other signs might signal the urinary tract infection like unusual odors, dark or bloody urine, and a high frequency of peeing.

If you are questioning yourself for too some time now, it’s better if you schedule your appointment with the vet.

The vet might examine a few things to understand if your dog has URI or not.

6. Try Associating His Crate With Food

Similar to how humans don’t enjoy having bathrooms in the proximity of the dining area, dogs do not like to pee in the area of their food.

Try giving your puppy treats for the crate or you might even start feeding him inside so he can associate the crate with food.

It will be less probable that he will pee in his new “dining room”.

7. Check If Your Dog Has Behavioral Concerns

If none of the above solved the peeing issue, then the problem might be in your puppy’s head.

If your dog stays home alone for a long time, he might be suffering from separation anxiety or isolation distress. And these conditions may be connected to urinating problems.

A good way to check this is to set up a camera to film your dog while you’re away.

If you notice that your dog is behaving strangely, and is crying for more than a few minutes, panting if it’s not hot, then you should contact a professional dog trainer.

Overactive bladder is a usual side effect of the separation anxiety dogs suffer from.

8. Your Dog Is Staying In The Crate For Too Long

Dog laying in crate

This is the simplest problem of all.

What happens is that owners expect their puppies to grow immediately to their new potty schedules, but then forget some basic things.

Bladders of young pups are still developing and cannot hold long.

Not only young dogs but also plenty of adult tiny dogs can’t hold their bladders for longer than 5 hours so if your dog is left in the crate for a longer amount of time, this could be the cause of the problem.

Remember that little dogs can’t hold their bladder as long as big dogs.

So if your puppy pees in a crate and you’re keeping him for too long inside, keep your expectations reasonable, and don’t let him stay that long in the crate while he’s too young.

9. Socialize Your Dog And Play With Him More Often

If you dedicate your time to bringing your dog out to play and run, he will eventually meet more dogs and will pick up new patterns of behavior through socializing.

When your dog gets enough exercise and has a good run in the evening, chances are he will most likely do all the peeing outside and be tired once back in the crate.

This is healthy for your pup and he will surely be grateful for it.

Now let’s wrap up and see what are the most common questions that other dog owners have on dog peeing in a kennel.

Conclusion

Remember that your Fido is not peeing in a crate because of hard feelings toward you. In most cases, a dog is just scared or hasn’t learned the rules yet.

You need to have patience with your cute little pup and try to understand her needs. We’re sure some of our previous suggestions will help you solve the problem.

You checked and tried everything but your dog still has peeing problems? Then try to think outside the box, and look at the most obvious things that might be causing the potty issue.

Rearrange your dog’s crate bedding situation, if there’s no blanket, add one, if there’s soft bedding, remove it.

Dogs can see blankets and towels either like perfect comfy pieces to lie down on or as a big soft diaper. Try different things until you see the improvement.

Sometimes mistakes that seem so absurd make all the difference.

Just lining the potty pads with the crate might confuse your dog. If you happen to be repeating this error, simply remove the pads or newspapers and the problem should disappear.

Frequently Asked Questions On Dogs Pee In Crate

1. Why Does My Puppy Pee In Her Crate At Night?

Puppies can do this for several reasons.

A puppy may pee in a crate when there are not enough toilet breaks if the crate is too large, or if an unclean environment is something that seems logical to the puppy (if a puppy was raised in an unclean environment).

In some cases, peeing in a crate may be an indicator of medical issues. If not treated on time, crate peeing can easily become a pattern of behavior.

2. At What Age Can Puppies Hold Their Bladder All Night?

Puppies must turn 16 weeks, or 4 months to hold their bladder all night. Once this happens, it will be much easier to have a puppy around.

At this time puppies have enough strong muscles to have control over the bladder.

If you are wondering – At what age do puppies not pee at night, know that once puppies turn 4 months there should be no need to pee at night.

3. What Time Should A Puppy Go To Bed?

There is no ‘right time’ for puppies to go to sleep, however, there will be approximate hours.

Dogs are creatures of routine, and they will usually get up and go to sleep at the same time. Some dogs might go to bed when you go.

4. Should I Leave Water In Puppy Crate At Night?

In general, dogs should have easy access to water all the time.

If you choose to leave a bowl with water inside the crate it may increase the dog’s need to pee.

So, leaving water in a crate for puppies isn’t advisable, but they should have a bowl near the crate so they can access it before sleep and after.

Once your Fido is trained you can leave the crate door open so a dog can have easy access to clean water.

5. Should You Put A Puppy Pad In A Crate At Night?

This may sound like an easy solution, but you should never leave pee pads in the crate with the puppy.

Pee pads are chewing hazards when around puppies (puppies will chew on anything), plus having pee pads in a crate will signal your puppy that it is ok to pee in their crate.